The athletics/running thread

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I went to the Doctor's on Thursday because I think I have asthma. Doctor sounded unconvinced and I've go to do load of tests and do a peak flow diary (please, no period jokes) but in the mean time I've been given an inhaler for two weeks to use before I do any exercise. Used in on Thursday evening before I went out, and did 5k in 23.37, which is faster than my previous 'PB' (since I was about 18 anyway) by about 30 seconds, and about a minute and a half quicker than the last time I went out. I felt way better too. Could have carried on.

However, the doctor seemed really unconvinced that I had asthma, so I'm wondering if the improvement was all in my head (plus it has been warmer recently, and my 'asthma' tends to only affect me when it's cold).

Anyway, I've been thinking about this, and it's bothering me. Truly.
Was it you, which is the perception I'm getting from your post, that brought up asthma in the first consultation. Because if it was it could have been a mistake - let me explain.
Now I don't want to bore you, and this is a loooooooong explanation, and also I'm definitely not saying that you have the same as me, but I feel I need to alert you to a possibility.

A bit of background – I’ve always been a thin, lean, athletic type. In my youth I ran well under sub-three hour marathons and I’ve been a fellrunner/walker since the age you are now (24, although I’m now more than double your age).

So. Four years ago, on a very cold winter morning, taking the dog (then a nine month old pup) out for her early morning walk in the woods, I felt as we went up a normal slope very out of breath. This happened a couple of times over a couple of weeks, and I wondered “what the fxck?” but did nothing about it. It got worse by the way, but incrementally.
About Easter of that year, up in Scotland, amongst my usual mountain walks I did two very long (40 mile) day long treks out and up onto some very remote mountains. On the last night of that trip I had langoustine (for the first time in my life) in the pub and then went to bed. I awoke in the early hours with a very horrible ‘bubbling’ sound in the back of my throat, which I couldn’t stop, until it forced me out of bed. Once up and about the bubbling stopped but I began to feel out of breath, seriously so, once again – so this time I decided to go to the doctor.
And here is where I made a mistake because I’d already decided I had a problem of which there were two possible diagnoses – you should never do that. I described everything that I both had and feared to the doctor with the emphasis on breathing difficulties (intimating I feared it was pneumonia) and/or a reaction to the langoustine I’d had. Obviously as a GP he tried to treat both, and I got prescribed a very common pill to suppress the acid in my stomach and he listened to my lungs and said although he could hear crackling, that I did not have pneumonia but prescribed a short course of antibiotics. Anyway, for nearly six months as summer wore on, I didn’t have any more bubbling, and my breathing difficulties eased. What I did have, and didn’t realise it at the time, were other odd symptoms which included getting very sweaty on the scalp when walking uphill in sunshine and feeling particularly sweaty and fatigued when vacuuming or mowing the lawn.
As autumn turned to winter my breathing difficulties returned, and to cut a very long story short, I had test after test and scans etc to try and determine what was wrong with my lungs (it was at this stage that I stopped taking the stomach pills because the bubbling had returned and it was now obviously lung rather than stomach based – it’s amazing how difficult that was to narrow down).
I was starting to become (11 months on from my first breathy walk) quite ill. On one particular trip to the hospital they discovered I was getting tachycardia, and further tests revealed a possible mitral valve misfunction, but this was put down as a potential side effect of my lung problems. Anyway to control the heartrate and to drain my lungs of fluid I was given beta blockers and diuretics, which kind of helped my symptoms.
I was due into hospital to have a CAT scan on my lungs, and separately to see a cardiologist consultant about the mitral valve problem when I developed a bad cough and a severe lack of appetite. After a week at home not being able to keep anything down, and a racking cough, which was severely debilitating, (and unbeknownst to myself having dropped four stone down to seven stone in total) my wife called the paramedics. They got to me just in time as I had a resting heart rate of 250 bpm. My troubles weren’t over as when I was rushed into A&E my main complaint was stomach pains and an emergency scan revealed deranged cholangitis (inflamed gall bladder) But I was too ill to operate on, and extremely dehydrated, so they rehydrated me. Unfortunately this blew all the valves in my heart and I got severe oedema as a result – but it saved my life. What I was actually suffering from was, at the point of near death, severe organ failure due to congestive cardiac failure – the proper technical term being Aschematic Cardiomyopathy (or Heart Failure due to diseased heart muscle caused by reasons unknown). It is not necessarily a disease of the elderly, and if you are an above averagely fit person it can masquerade as breathing difficulties (especially if you keep on telling your GP it is lung based – which it feels like).
Anyway, cautionary tale: Do not assume asthma or pneumonia or anything else – describe the symptoms and wait for diagnosis because you might (like I did) lead your GP down the wrong path.

[Prufrock]

Fecking hell LLS! That must have been terrifying!

It was me who brought it up. I don't go to the doctor very often, in fact I think I've been once in eight years, and that was for a five minute thing to get the doc to book me a hospital appointment after an eye-test. I've never really got 'ill' touch wood, and the only reason I went this time was because it was niggling me and I thought I knew what it was. Anyway, she sounded unconvinced (apparently asthma tends to be worse at night, whereas I'm fine at night, occasionally, but rarely, a little bit out of breath in the morning, and mainly when I'm out running, I'll be absolutely fine and then suddenly I feel like I can't breathe in all the way. It's not like gasping out of breath struggling for air, just like I'm only on half. It only happens in the cold). Internet, and my girlfriend's sister having similar symptoms and that being asthma, led me to believe it would be asthma.

Thanks for the cautionary tale though. I really hope it isn't that! I'd describe myself as 'above averagely fit' but only because the average is fecking low. I'm certainly not about to be doing any marathon's any time soon!

The internet must be no end of frustration for GPs. My opening words were 'sorry to be one of those folk who have googled it and reckon they can do your job'. I tried to answer her questions honestly but you don't know what you brains picks up or discards when you've already decided what it is!

Are you fettled now?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Fecking hell LLS! That must have been terrifying!

It was me who brought it up. I don't go to the doctor very often, in fact I think I've been once in eight years, and that was for a five minute thing to get the doc to book me a hospital appointment after an eye-test. I've never really got 'ill' touch wood, and the only reason I went this time was because it was niggling me and I thought I knew what it was. Anyway, she sounded unconvinced (apparently asthma tends to be worse at night, whereas I'm fine at night, occasionally, but rarely, a little bit out of breath in the morning, and mainly when I'm out running, I'll be absolutely fine and then suddenly I feel like I can't breathe in all the way. It's not like gasping out of breath struggling for air, just like I'm only on half. It only happens in the cold). Internet, and my girlfriend's sister having similar symptoms and that being asthma, led me to believe it would be asthma.

Thanks for the cautionary tale though. I really hope it isn't that! I'd describe myself as 'above averagely fit' but only because the average is fecking low. I'm certainly not about to be doing any marathon's any time soon!

The internet must be no end of frustration for GPs. My opening words were 'sorry to be one of those folk who have googled it and reckon they can do your job'. I tried to answer her questions honestly but you don't know what you brains picks up or discards when you've already decided what it is!

Are you fettled now?

Aye, I'm fettled. It's something that cannot be cured but can be managed. I'm on just three types of pill (Ramipril, a beta blocker, and Furosemide) which is a big improvement on the seven types I was taking at the height of it. And when I was in hospital they were cautious about me ever even walking up slopes without aid again, but I'm back to running and planning a half or full marathon this year. So it can be overcome.

Anyway, hope you find what it is soon, there's nothing more frustrating than having test after test and having treatment based on little more than guesswork. Take care.

[Prufrock]

Cheers dude, and glad you're getting back to where you were.

[Harry Genshaw]

Bloody ell Spotty that made for some scary reading.

I cant decide which I'm more impressed with. Your sub 3 hour marathons when you were younger, or you planning to run another or a half, after going through that.

Feel a bit silly moaning about my little niggles now

[Gary the Enfield]

Second (of four) coaching sessions last night.

Warm up

800m Jogging round track
800m Dynamic stretching (jogging with a few heel flicks and lunges etc. whilst travelling.

Main Set

6 x 600m with a 200m jog recovery
The first 600m was 2:17
Next 4 x 600m was 2:25
Last 600m was 2:21

6 x 100m sprint with 100m jog recovery - average 14 seconds

Warm down

400m slow jog and 10 minutes standing stretching.

Didn't feel as hard as last week and I'm fine this morning.

[Gooner Girl]

Second (of four) coaching sessions last night.

Warm up

800m Jogging round track
800m Dynamic stretching (jogging with a few heel flicks and lunges etc. whilst travelling.

Main Set

6 x 600m with a 200m jog recovery
The first 600m was 2:17
Next 4 x 600m was 2:25
Last 600m was 2:21

6 x 100m sprint with 100m jog recovery - average 14 seconds

Warm down

400m slow jog and 10 minutes standing stretching.

Didn't feel as hard as last week and I'm fine this morning.

well done GtE, we had AGM instead of training this week. Got there and searched my coat pockets to realise I had left my report behind. Hurriedly drove back home to try and find it and couldn't. Then realised it had been in my trouser pockets all along...

[Gary the Enfield]

Second (of four) coaching sessions last night.

Warm up

800m Jogging round track
800m Dynamic stretching (jogging with a few heel flicks and lunges etc. whilst travelling.

Main Set

6 x 600m with a 200m jog recovery
The first 600m was 2:17
Next 4 x 600m was 2:25
Last 600m was 2:21

6 x 100m sprint with 100m jog recovery - average 14 seconds

Warm down

400m slow jog and 10 minutes standing stretching.

Didn't feel as hard as last week and I'm fine this morning.

well done GtE, we had AGM instead of training this week. Got there and searched my coat pockets to realise I had left my report behind. Hurriedly drove back home to try and find it and couldn't. Then realised it had been in my trouser pockets all along...

Are these yours?

[mrkint]

I've been focusing mainly on cardio and fat-burning in the last few weeks, so today i changed it up a bit and instead of doing circuits + fast intervals, I did circuits + upper body work.

circuit was...

60 sec swiss ball plank, with feet on a step-up thingy

60 sec burpees with a jump onto the step-up thingy

60 sec squat presses with 16kg ViPR

repeated the above times three.

Then did some weighted tricep/chest dips (3x12) which were hell, bicep curls (30 on a light weight, 15 on a middle weight and 8 on a heavyish'un) which were meh, and some chest presses (3x12 on 12kg each arm, which felt a lot lighter than i'd anticipated but still hell by the end)


my arms hurt.

[Gary the Enfield]

I've been focusing mainly on cardio and fat-burning in the last few weeks, so today i changed it up a bit and instead of doing circuits + fast intervals, I did circuits + upper body work.

circuit was...

60 sec swiss ball plank, with feet on a step-up thingy

60 sec burpees with a jump onto the step-up thingy

60 sec squat presses with 16kg ViPR

repeated the above times three.

Then did some weighted tricep/chest dips (3x12) which were hell, bicep curls (30 on a light weight, 15 on a middle weight and 8 on a heavyish'un) which were meh, and some chest presses (3x12 on 12kg each arm, which felt a lot lighter than i'd anticipated but still hell by the end)


my arms hurt.

Very good. I don't do as much upper body work as I should. Which is probably why my swimming is so poor.

[Gary the Enfield]

Last night I took a group out on my normal Thursday run. 7.3 miles nothing special.

I'm proud to say my daughter went on her first Thursday night juniors run and ran 4.5 miles! She's training for the London Mini Marathon which involves running the last 3 miles of the marathon course. She came with me to the track on Tuesday too and is really putting the effort in.

Little star.

[Gooner Girl]

Are these yours?

Yes! How did you guess? They are my favourite pair. Does my bum look big in them?

[Gary the Enfield]

Are these yours?

Yes! How did you guess? They are my favourite pair. Does my bum look big in them?

Can't see. You're sat on a MASSIVE pile of washing!

[Gooner Girl]

Last night I took a group out on my normal Thursday run. 7.3 miles nothing special.

I'm proud to say my daughter went on her first Thursday night juniors run and ran 4.5 miles! She's training for the London Mini Marathon which involves running the last 3 miles of the marathon course. She came with me to the track on Tuesday too and is really putting the effort in.

Little star.

Very well done. That's a heck of a long way for an 11 year old to run. We don't take our juniors that far. Am surprised your club encourage that sort of mileage but am sure you are keeping a close eye on it. Glad she is enjoying her training. Won't be long before she is leaving poor old dad behind...

[Gooner Girl]

Can't see. You're sat on a MASSIVE pile of washing!

You're always welcome to pop in and do a bit of housework for me. The pinny is here, ready and waiting.

[Gary the Enfield]

Right. Latest track session last night.

6 x 800m efforts with 200m jog recovery in between.

3:27, 3:27, 3:29, 3:24, 3:29; 3:34

Quite please with the consistency.

Then 20 press ups followed by 400m alternating with 100m jog and 100m sprint for the lap x 2

Ready for my race in Ireland on Saturday now.

[Harry Genshaw]

Right. Latest track session last night.

6 x 800m efforts with 200m jog recovery in between.

3:27, 3:27, 3:29, 3:24, 3:29; 3:34

Quite please with the consistency.

Then 20 press ups followed by 400m alternating with 100m jog and 100m sprint for the lap x 2

Ready for my race in Ireland on Saturday now.

Sounding good G. Whats the race?

[Gary the Enfield]

Right. Latest track session last night.

6 x 800m efforts with 200m jog recovery in between.

3:27, 3:27, 3:29, 3:24, 3:29; 3:34

Quite please with the consistency.

Then 20 press ups followed by 400m alternating with 100m jog and 100m sprint for the lap x 2

Ready for my race in Ireland on Saturday now.

Sounding good G. Whats the race?

10 mile Coastal Challenge in Ballyliffin, Donegal. Over there for Easter. Then on the following weekend I'm running the Wantage Half Marathon.

How are you doing?

[Harry Genshaw]

Sounding good G. Whats the race?

10 mile Coastal Challenge in Ballyliffin, Donegal. Over there for Easter. Then on the following weekend I'm running the Wantage Half Marathon.

How are you doing?[/quote]

The coastal challenge sounds nice although hilly I imagine? Last physio appointment tomorrow then try and start again on Friday. 9 weeks to the marathon which all being well I could make, if I miss out any tapering. TBH I'll just be glad to get back running again. Looking forward to a summer on the fells

[Gooner Girl]

How are you doing?

Harry is getting his legs shaved and attempting to sneak into Ladies only runs...